McDonald's Steels Itself For Another Media Bashing

McDonald's marketing executives convened a war council recently to devise a strategy for combating the latest attack on their reputation and bottom line

McDonald's marketing executives convened a war council recently to devise a strategy for combating the latest attack on their reputation and bottom line, AdAge.com reports.

The adversary is a familiar one, Eric Schlosser, author of the 2001 best-seller "Fast Food Nation." His latest salvo is a movie version expected to be released later this year, as well as another book. The book, "Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food," is reportedly aimed at kids and full of gag-inducing information about fast-food fare, the report says.

While McDonald's managed to weather an earlier documentary, "Super Size Me," without sustaining any bottom-line damage, AdAge.com says the fast-food king is: "worried about a backlash." The movie version of "Fast Food Nation" is a fictionalized drama set in a small Colorado town with a meatpacking plant and is expected to make obvious allusions to the company, including a restaurant chain called Mickey's, the report says.

According to studio insiders, the film focuses on a Mickey's exec who is sent to investigate problems with its new sandwich, "The Big One," at a meatpacking plant where a trio of illegal Mexican immigrants work. Another plotline involves a school kid who sees the reality of her fast-food job and takes action to change the business. It's believed the film targets meat producers, the supply chain, marketing, stores, employees and animal treatment.

Meanwhile, Schlosser's book, to be released next month, is aimed at middle-school children, and lays out stomach-churning info that could cause kids to swear off beef, chicken, candy and soda, the report says. Find the article at: adage.com/news.cms?newsId=48540.